‘Fawlty Towers’ gets new builder, Seascape restart, good Du Val news, Southern Cross Epsom expansion - Property Insider
Accountants called in a new builder to finish Onehunga units; movement at $300m Seascape; some good Du Val news at last? Yet Southern Cross is slow in Epsom - all in today’s Property Insider.
Onehunga’s $85 million nearly finished “Fawlty Towers” apartments have got a new builder, with the seemingly unlikely prospect of completion and contracts settled soon, years after it began.
You’d have to cast your mind back to pre-Covid last decade to recall the marketing of Beachcroft Residences near the waterfront.
Deposits were taken from 2017 and building started in 2018 but the project, originally by Erson Developments, has been dogged with difficulties.
Last week, McGrathNicol receiver Andrew Grenfell updated buyers.
The accountants are running Beachcroft Apartments LP as administrators and receivers.
On October 7, the Herald reported how the project is called by some “Fawlty Towers” for its troubled history, with the previous builder Teak leaving.
Grenfell and Alton Pollard run Roger Alan Coulson’s Beachcroft Apartments LP and CMT Number 1 GP.
Grenfell said in October that via a NZ Guardian Trust entity, a secured lender had put them in control of the residential block, now in its final stages of completion.
He vowed to finish the scheme and get all units to their buyers – some who are increasingly worried and reluctant, fearing settlement.
“The receivers are currently undertaking a detailed assessment of the entities’ position, including the remaining work required to complete the project,” Grenfell said in October.
The site would be temporarily closed while that assessment is undertaken.
Last week, Grenfell named the new builder.
“We have appointed Method Construction Group as construction managers to assist the receivers in the assessment of the remaining work required to complete the development and oversee the final construction,” Grenfell wrote.
“Since their appointment, Method has undertaken a detailed review of the status of the development and has recently provided the receivers with a revised construction completion programme.”
That means the site work would start last week and “ramp up” as contractors are re-engaged to finish the work.
Practical completion was targeted for mid-March and code compliance was expected soon afterwards, Grenfell advised.
And if you’ve paid a deposit, Grenfell indicated you’ll be settling.
All deposits continue to be held in a lawyer’s trust account, he said.
He understood the situation was unsettling but he indicated settlement was coming as “key milestones were reached”.
Some buyers are reluctant to hand over the remaining 90%, contacting the Herald to question the long delays and express concern about what that might mean for them.
Lives have changed since 10% deposits were paid, they said. Some have left New Zealand. Others’ financial circumstances have changed.
Seascape tower re-start?
Icon has been poised to sign the contract to finish the 56-level $300m Seascape apartments near Auckland’s waterfront.
By early November, nothing had been signed.
But it is understood to have been close then.
Bayleys is running a prominent marketing campaign for unsold units in New Zealand’s tallest apartment tower.
People in the area have reported the giant yellow tower crane moving and how delighted they were about that.
More activity has also been seen on the site in terms of contractors.
Perhaps we’ll get confirmation soon from Shundi Customs and/or Icon. That would be good news for the sector because a stalled tower of that height is bad for the CBD, the sector and New Zealand.
Some good Du Val news?
Could there be some good news out of PwC on the long-running Du Val front at last?
Naylor Love is on the site of the abandoned partly-built The Verge apartments at 65-66 Hillside Rd in Mt Wellington.
Even PwC’s John Fisk was confirming some movement there, although he wasn’t talking about any sale, and he didn’t name Naylor Love specifically.
“The statutory managers have engaged a contractor to undertake limited works on the site,” Fisk said.
“The property currently remains under the ownership of Hillside Crossing Limited Partnership and we are unable to comment on any ongoing negotiations resulting from the marketing campaign undertaken at this time,” Fisk told this column last Thursday.
Sector experts think that movement could indicate PwC has found a buyer and has Naylor Love cleaning up the site and removing debris in preparation for further investigative work with the aim of the units being finished.
Could a buyer be in the wings?
Sudden Verge activity certainly seems to indicate that, although non-disclosure agreements are in place so everyone is staying quiet.
Not everyone is silent on Du Val, though.
Kenyon Clarke has long expressed frustration on social media about no charges being laid.
“Statutory, the Du Val story, goes live this month,” he said last week, adding that it had been 643 days since the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) “kicked off their investigation into our family and the Du Val businesses”.
Last month, the High Court ordered Clarke and wife Charlotte Clarke to pay the FMA $46,000 in expenses after the regulator succeeded in freezing the couple’s assets.
Last August, the FMA gained the original orders as part of its investigation into Du Val.
Three weeks later, 70 Du Val entities were put into statutory management.
The Clarkes, their family trust and five associated entities remain in receivership.
No Southern Cross expansion yet
While one stalled project resumes, another is quiet, despite a protracted legal battle.
Expanding Brightside Epsom seems somewhat slow.
That is the hospital in the blue ribbon suburb just down the road from Allevia Hospital Epsom, the old Mercy Epsom, where $190m was spent, including by 40% shareholder Sir Stephen Tindall.
Brightside Epsom will mean a lot if you’re a neighbour or interested party but probably most others have forgotten about this or that it was even planned.
It’s a Southern Cross Hospital, coming under the Southern Cross Health Trust, chaired by property expert Murray Jordan.
In 2023, the Herald reported the entity had won a costs application against Eden Epsom Residential Protection Society Inc and Auckland Council.
The addresses are 3 Brightside Rd, 149, 151 and 153 Gillies Ave.
Southern Cross Healthcare CEO Chris White said the business welcomed last year’s Environment Court decision to approve a zoning change for Southern Cross Brightside Hospital in Epsom.
“We always believed the healthcare facility and hospital zone classification was the most appropriate for this site, so we are pleased with this outcome,” White said.
“With council consent, we have removed one of three buildings to date and we are actively working towards a resource consent that will see us fulfil the potential of delivering expanded healthcare and surgical services on the Brightside site,” White told the Herald.
The Southern Cross hospital business is New Zealand’s largest network of private hospitals.
Yet one can’t help but remark on how little publicity Southern Cross hospitals get compared to Southern Cross insurance.
Insurance announced on September 30 it had paid $1.7 billion for 3.8 million claims in the June 30, 2025 year.
It has 951,808 members, down only 3493 annually.
Southern Cross CEO Nick Astwick wrote: “After nearly nine years of growth, it is heartening to see our membership is stable despite ongoing challenges in the New Zealand economy.”
In the year to June 30, 2024, Southern Cross hospitals cared for more than 101,154 patients. Revenue was up from $509m to $615m, the annual report on the Charities Register shows.
New accounts will be out in the next few weeks to show the hospital group 2025’s performance. That is something to look forward to.
Southern Cross hospitals has 10 wholly-owned hospitals and massive reserves: $467m in 2023 and $461m in 2024.
Those are akin to Southern Cross insurance’s reserves: $418.9m in the year to June 30, 2025, helping the giant insurer retain its A+ financial strength rating from Standard and Poor’s (Australia).
But it’s more than just 10 hospitals: there are 26 wholly-owned and partnership hospitals and healthcare providers.
One thing Southern Cross spokespeople for insurance and hospitals want to stress is the difference or separation between Southern Cross insurance and Southern Cross hospitals.
Southern Cross hospitals are based in the ANZ building on Albert St.
Southern Cross insurance is down in the Wynyard Quarter in Te Kupenga, 155 Fanshawe St.
The society (insurance) and healthcare (hospitals) has directors in common.
Society (insurance) board: Chris Black (chair), Nagaja Sanatkumar, Dr Martin Misur, Dr Dwayne Crombie, David Bridgman, Julia Raue, Vena Crawley.
Healthcare (hospitals) board: Murray Jordan (chair), Chris Black, Nagaja Sanatkumar, Dr Martin Misur, Dr Dwayne Crombie, Dr Arthur Morris, David Bridgman, Julia Raue.
The spokeswoman said the insurance business was established in 1961 but hospitals not till 1977.
“Southern Cross comprises a collection of independent businesses under two distinct and separate legal structures that operate on an arms-length basis. They are:
Those two share the same brand and ethos, she said, “being focused on a vision of championing healthier lives for all New Zealanders”.
“They are governed separately and independently of each other. Each entity has its own governance processes designed to meet the applicable legal and regulatory requirements.”
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.